Course Review: Glen Ellen CC - Millis, MA
Glen Ellen Country Club, or "The Glen" as it is affectionately called by it's regulars, is located in Millis, MA about 30 minutes outside of Boston. Where I'm located in Massachusetts there aren't a lot of great public courses within a short drive. To play anything of good quality I need to drive 40-50 minutes from home. For me, Millis was about 50 minutes away and will now definitely be in my rotation of courses.
Upon pulling in to the parking lot of The Glen, one of the first things I noticed was the large outdoor, inground swimming pool. My buddy and playing partner for the day says it always reminds him of "Dirty Dancing". Before I could give him any flak for making a Dirty Dancing reference and knowing about it, I had to pull back because I knew exactly what he was talking about.
Even though the entire state of Massachusetts has been in a heatwave, with no real rain to speak of for weeks, from the clubhouse I was struck with how green the course was. Most courses are suffering from burnt out fairways, greens and rough in this region, but The Glen looked to be in emaculate shape. The green fees at $65 to walk on a weekend would be well worth it from what I could already tell and had heard from my buddy. The "walking" instead of riding (coupled with 90 degree heat and humidity) would later take a toll on this 35 year old body. It was my under 30, young buck friend's idea to walk it and I had to show I could hang. To be honest, I'm in good shape, and walk 9 holes regularly, but I'm ashamed to admit that I can't remember the last time I walked 18. I'm blaming it on the heat/humidity of why I was completely wiped after!
Back to the course... I could tell from the scorecard that playing from the blues would require some length. The first hole, while somewhat wide open, is a 450 yard par 4. A fairway bunker is situated perfectly on the righthand side of the fairway to catch many tee balls. Following up that long first hole is a very challenging par 3 measuring 218 yards from the blue tees, with the first 50 yards being over water, to an uphill green. So the 218 plays more like 225-230 yards.
The course has a great mixture of holes where an errant tee shot won't be penalized too much with some wide fairways, and adjoining fairways. But also other holes with trouble on either side, which demands a good tee ball. Most of the par 5's seem reachable while looking at the card (the longest measuring 526), but I can say that I didn't reach any in two shots. One of them has a creek running 25 yards in front of the green which would make going for it in two difficult, and the others require a solid drive to a strategic position.
All in all I found The Glen to be a great course. It was fun to play and it can pretty much make sure you hit every club in the bag. The greens were soft and ran very true and consistent from hole to hole. For the value, as well as the quality of the course I'd highly recommend it. I'll be making the drive back out to Millis before Summer's end.
To see rates and other information about Glen Ellen CC, visit: http://www.theglencc.com
